7 Homemade Edible Valentines

DIY Valentine's you can bake yourself.

How about this year for Valentine’s Day you surpass the go-to box of chocolates? Buckle up and face the challenge head on and create a DIY valentine. All it takes is a little planning and creativity. Sometimes making a gift by hand can be intimidating, but when you make that gift an edible, delectablefood, you’re in a win-win situation. There’s no one out there who doesn’t appreciate an edible treat made with love. Whether it turns out magazine-cover perfect or slightly awkward and lopsided, your valentine will be excited to have something good to eat — handcrafted by their one and only.

Kids love giving and receiving cards from their pals. So what’s better than getting valentines in a mailbox? Receiving edible cookie valentines. Just find your own favorite sugar cookie and royal icing recipe, then follow the directions for the valentine letter cookies at baking-in-heels.com. The icing process takes time to allow for drying, but it’s not difficult.

How about starting the day off with breakfast in bed or a pretty heart-themed brunch set up? You can make just about any food heart-shaped, but nothing tastes and smells as good as fresh baked cinnamon rolls. To speed things up, try buying frozen pre-made bread dough or preparing the dough the night before. The heart-shape step is just as easy as making a circle. All you do is pinch the bottom: Find the recipe and how-to at PinchMySalt.com.

Here’s another one that’s popular with the kids. It’s cheap and easy and the only cooking involved is melting a store-bought milk chocolate bar. Your shopping list includes a whopping four things: strawberry marshmallows (if you can find strawberry), milk chocolate, lollipop sticks and sprinkles. You can also purchase small individual cellophane baggies for packaging if you like. Here’s the how-to at Glorious Treats’ blog.

Your valentine might prefer savory over sweet. Prepare an egg-in-the-hole breakfast but put that egg in a heart. All one needs is a heart-shaped cookie cutter (or some simple beginner’s level carving skills), along with some bread, butter and an egg. Garnish with some bacon and a glass of orange juice and you’ve got yourself a well-balanced start to Valentine’s Day. Never made egg-in-the-hole? Here’s another pictorial how-to from PinchMySalt.com.

If you want to impress your valentine with your decorating skills, try these adorable cupcake cupid hearts. Making the cupcake into a heart is simple — just place marbles in your cupcake pan. Icing and sprinkles are easy too. The tricky arrows and wings are actually just melted wafer cookies squeezed through a plastic baggie. Sugar Swings! blog explains the process with clear directions and beautiful step-by-step photographs.

Want to try a more traditional cake? This beautiful white cake has a vibrant red heart buried inside. If you can make a four-layer cake, the only additional steps are carving the bottom of the heart in the first two, and then carving the top of the heart in the second two. Fill those spaces with crumbled red velvet cake and then stack them together. You can find the directions carefully explained and beautifully photographed at iambaker.net. Links to the two cake recipes are provided as well.

Maybe your valentine is more of a pie guy (or girl). Maybe they prefer dinner over dessert. This not-so-traditionally shaped pizza recipe goes back to the heart of Italy by adding the Neapolitan staple — a single egg. Proud Italian Cook skips the dough recipe and recommends purchasing pre-made dough from the grocery store. You can also research your own dough recipe and apply this great look to your crust and toppings. Find the dough-shaping how-to here.